Ethan G

I'm trying to figure out when we can starting filling the DS-160 and any other documentation. Do you have to wait until the case reaches the foreign embassy and you get a welcome letter from the foreign embassy saying they are ready? I thought you could fill it when you get a case number from NVC, but here's my issue... I kept reaching out to NVC via their public inquiry and they finally told me that they got my petition from USCIS and they gave me my case number and invoice ID. However, when I go to CEAC login, after entering those two pieces of information I simply get a generic page about the k-1 visa: "K visas are nonimmigrant visas that assist spouses or future spouses of American citizens in entering the United States. As with all nonimmigrant visa applicants, a DS-160 must be filled out in order for a consular section to process the case." and there's an OK button at the bottom of that page. Not helpful. Doesn't log me into anything specific to me. And If I try to check my status in CEAC via their status check page, I run into a different issue: If I choose NON-IMMIGRANT visa type, I get "Invalid Application ID or Case Number." If I choose IMMIGRANT visa type, I get "Your search did not return any data." Is that because they haven't sent it to the foreign embassy yet? Or it hasn't finished being registered in their system? I'm not sure. I see that I could go start filling in the DS-160 application online, but if I'm understanding my research correctly, I think that's a bad idea until I officially get told to do that. I'm just not understanding the timing. I know that I have to be patient, but I also don't want to be sitting around waiting when I could've been working on documentation. So what are my next steps, if any? Additional info: In their email response to my public inquiry, NVC said "Due to your petition type, you will not receive a request for fee payment or document submission." That really confuses me. I'm 100% sure my fiance has to fill out a DS-160, so does that just mean that I myself won't be asked to submit any documents? I don't know why their communication is so unclear to me. Also, they said "All case parties will be notified when this petition is forwarded to the assigned U.S. Embassy/Consulate General." So that leads me to believe I should just keep waiting I guess.

I decided to just submit a "Public Inquiry" with NVC and explain that the case was approved by USCIS and in transit to them, so whenever it reached them, to please use this new address.

My I-129F petition for my foreign fiance (who is from Uganda) got approved and I'm waiting to receive a case number from NVC. She is about to move from the address that I used when filling out the I-129F form. How should I handle her change of address? Thanks!

My I-129F was just approved (yay!). I saw it on myUSCIS and I got the letter in the mail. However, I never received an email. My USCIS account has an email (which I had to validate upon signing up so I know it's correct) with "Notification Preferences" set to "Email". What am I missing?

What happens if the I-129F form is processed and ready before the beneficiary's in-country documentation for things like getting a passport? Can the K-1 visa process be slowed down or paused at any stage to account for delays in the foreign country's processing? My fiance and 2 of her children have passports, but we're still waiting on the third child's passport. And the USCIS may send me an RFE for the death certificate of her previous partner, which we are still waiting on from the foreign gov't. I'm just curious how much flexibility there is or if special requests/exemptions can be made to pause so you don't have to restart the whole process due to something expiring on the US side while we're waiting on the foreign gov't slow processing.

Context: My fiance is Ugandan. In Uganda, they don't have family names. They have 2 names: one is registered as "Given Name" and one is registered as "Surname". When they say or write a name, the surname is always put first, followed by the given name. So let's say her given name is "Jane" and her surname is "Doe". In Uganda, they would refer to her as "Doe Jane". What I think I already understand: According to my research for the I-129F, I have to put the Surname "Doe" in the "Family Name (Last Name)" field, and "Jane" in the "Given Name (First Name)". I think that's clear enough. What I need advice on: For documents where I refer to her, I would naturally put "Doe Jane" because that's how they do it in Uganda and that's how she knows herself. But will that confuse the USCIS? So when we write her letter of intent to marry and when I document our evidence of meeting, should I refer to her in the customary way for Uganda that she's used to and Uganda is used to ("Doe Jane"), or should I refer to in the US way ("Jane Doe")? I don't want to cause USCIS to think I put her names wrong on the I-129F if my letter and other documents refer to her in reverse order to what they expect. So I'm thinking I should go with "Jane Doe" even though that's not natural for her Ugandan name.

Ok I guess I'll just keep it simple and put "Single" / "No" and not complicate it by over-explaining (a tendency of mine). It's hard to know how much info is too much info vs not enough. I just don't want to slow the process down, but I don't wanna spend a bunch of money on a lawyer when I think I can figure it out myself with research and forums like this. 🤷‍♂️

Yeah I will probably answer "Single" and "No", and then I can write a letter explaining the situation and include his death certificate. If they have questions, will they ask for more information, or will they simply deny the application and make me start over? I'm not sure how much preemptive info to include in the initial packet for the I-129F.

Background: My Ugandan fiance has 3 children from a previous relationship. She never legally married the man (i.e. no marriage certificate), but they were considered married by the village (it was a local custom type situation). He passed away while she was still pregnant with her last child. I want to make sure I fill the form out correctly. FYI: My Ugandan lawyer interviewed her and confirmed she was never legally married, only cohabitating. Question: Should I put Single or Widowed for her marital status? Should I put "Yes" or "No" for "Has your beneficiary ever been previously married?" I could go either way on this... Yes...she was informally married (not legally) and she has children to show for it (and he's on their birth certificates). The form doesn't seem to ask for a marriage certificate, so maybe USCIS doesn't care about the technical legal side. I can provide the death certificate of her previous partner, but without a marriage certificate, will that make sense to USCIS? Will they consider her widowed or never married? No...she wasn't legally married and there's no marriage certificate. However, USCIS may wonder about the children and what her relationship is to the father. I can show with a death certificate that he died and their relationship is over. Ultimately, I wonder if it will be confusing to USCIS if I put "Widowed" and answer "Yes" but have no marriage certificate to show, so I'm considering putting "Single" and "No" (which, according to my Ugandan lawyer, is the technical truth).